A special birthday gift is on its way from long-time PETA supporter Stella McCartney to screen icon Sophia Loren, who turned 86 on Sunday: a luxurious, cruelty-free coat from McCartney’s new collection, made with KOBA – the world’s first bio-based faux fur, created exclusively by ECOPEL.
“The fur trade is far too violent and ugly for someone as beautiful as Sophia,” says PETA Campaigns Advisor Mimi Bekhechi. “We hope this gorgeous gift will inspire her to join the 90% of Italians who, having seen how foxes and other animals are beaten, electrocuted, gassed, and even skinned alive for their fur, are wholeheartedly rejecting the industry.”
Recent investigations into Italian mink farms have found animals confined to cramped wire cages with no access to grass or water to swim in. Many were severely injured, and some were driven to self-mutilation by the stress of captivity. At the end of their miserable lives, they’re commonly gassed to death.
As well as being inherently cruel, scientists now warn that fur farms could also become reservoirs for future pandemics, as cases of COVID-19 continue to spread rapidly between workers and sick animals on European fur farms. The public health risk has prompted the Dutch parliament to vote to close all remaining mink farms in the country within the year. PETA UK is appealing to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to follow suit and close the 13 remaining mink farms in Italy.
Alongside McCartney, the most influential names in fashion, including Armani, Prada, Versace, Furla, Gucci, and Elisabetta Franchi, have all sworn off fur, reflecting the views of the growing number of people who oppose fur production – an industry which Gucci chief executive and president Marco Bizzarri has called outdated.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.au.
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